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Lucky thief avoids electrocution

A metal thief risked his life Monday to steal several thousand dollars worth of copper wire from a Georgia Power Company substation in Athens.

A utility company employee told an Athens-Clarke police officer the thief “either knew what he was doing or was extremely lucky” when he stole ground wire from the substation.

Juice flows at 230,000 volts into the Athena substation on Old Hull Road, where it is reduced to 25,000 volts for distribution to customers, Georgia Power spokeswoman Konswello Monroe said.

“That’s a very lethal level of voltage,” Monroe said.

“There are many dangers associated with entering a substation, and that’s why our staff and employees are skilled and trained to work in that type of environment.”

The thief stole 25 ground wires from a main transmission line in the substation, each containing a total of about 75 pounds of copper, according to Monroe.

Area recycling centers were paying $2.87 per pound for scrap copper Tuesday, meaning the thief could have swapped the stolen metal for about $5,300.

The thief got into the fenced-in substation between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. Monday, a utility employee told police.

It was the first time someone stole ground wire from a Georgia Power substation in Athens-Clarke County, the employee said, but he knows of a similar theft in a neighboring county, according to police.

It will take workers about a week to repair the damage, at a cost of about $10,000, Monroe said.